Washington Huskies Football Recruitment Early Signing Period Primer

Welcome to the early signing period! Washington has had at least a strange recruitment season. This was already the case before the shooting of Jimmy Lake, as the Huskies ’fighting on the recruitment path certainly affected his dismissal.

In previous seasons, led by Chris Petersen and then Lake, one of the consistent elements of the Huskies was that almost everyone signed in December and no one resigned. This was not the case in the 2022 class, as more players have untied their commitments while remaining committed (8-6). There are big differences in this. Some players left the class early after receiving additional offers and potential opportunities. Some apparently resigned in Washington due to a malfunction under the Lake Administration. And still others resigned after the coaching exchange either to evaluate their recruitment or because the suitability was not right in the new system.

One member of the 2022 class has been substantially reclassified as 4-star RB Emeka Megwa decided to register for the fall quarter and has already signed. He’s in the boat. There are 3 more offensive players involved and it is expected that they will all end up signing today. The Liberty HS 4-star WR Germie Bernard is the crown jewel of this class. The 6’2 Gatorade player in the state of Nevada committed to the Huskies almost a year and a half ago and has never seemed to falter in it, even though two high school teammates withdrew their promise to UW.

In the tight second in the class is 4-star TE Ryan Otton, the younger brother of Husky star Cade. 6’6 Otton is a more respected recruiter than his brother was coming from high school, but Husky fans will be happy if he ends up being some remote player whose Cade was purple and gold. Another local commitment is WR Denzel of the Boston Emerald Ridge in Puyallup. The three feed catchers are 6’2, 6’3 and 6’6 and continue the trend for huskies to acquire tons of size at their receiving targets.

Washington also currently has one commitment from offensive lineman Parker in Brailsford. He is expected to play downtown at the university level and sign a contract early in the season. Parker won the state title at Saguaro In Arizona as a parent and is eligible to be a clone of Nick Harris.

The only defensive commitment of the Huskies is OLB Lance Holtzclaw, who is also from Arizona. Holtzclaw’s current plan is coming on an official visit with new staff in January after the defense coordinator has been hired to make sure he still has the right fit.

There will almost certainly be more than five new signatories between now and the end of February. We have already seen 3 players arrive on the transfer portal in the last week after the change of coach in addition to 2 that happened during the season. We could easily see at least 5 more transfers next week. This would give the Huskies at least 13 openings to use for either high school recruitment or incoming transfers.

Some high school candidates include 2 official visitors who arrived in Seattle last weekend. Linebacker Darrien Lewis of Maryland is in a new position and currently in the rankings, but that should change soon. He has announced his anticipation until February, although he will be able to see when he will make a commitment and technically he does not yet have an offer from UW.

Four-star LB Kevonte Henry is in Michigan, but new Husky employee Courtney Morgan was one of her leading recruiters and she paid an official visit this weekend, so let’s see if Dawge has a chance to turn her on. He announced today that he will not sign the deal early in the season, so expect Washington to follow him closely.

Local offensive lineman Vega Ioane reopened his recruitment this weekend, but you should expect Washington to try to get him back on the boat once they have officially announced a new offensive line coach.

However, the highlight of February is the local 5-star OT Josh Conerly, who has been considered lean in Michigan, but who will give the Huskies ’new coaching staff every chance to beat him. Let’s see if DeBoer and a potential new offensive line coach can win the battle for a local star that Jimmy Lake’s staff was unable to do last year.

As the dust settles over the next 48 hours, we can see who will be left unsigned, and the new staff will know exactly who they can realistically try to save this recruiting class as well as possible over the next 6 weeks.

It becomes the quietest early contract period the Huskies have had since its inception, but there is a lot of intrigue and mystery ahead.

Go Dawgs!